11 Years of Meridian: The Principles That Haven’t Changed

This week marks the 11th anniversary of Meridian. We recently had a chance to gather as a team, out of the office for a nice dinner. Looking around at this group of people, many of whom weren’t here when Meridian began, I found myself thinking about just how much has changed in 11 years.

Our team has grown. Our clients have grown. The financial world has certainly changed. And, if the pictures are any indication, some of us have changed a bit too.

(Here’s what we looked like when Meridian started…and when we had Smokey the cat)

But the principles underneath Meridian haven’t changed at all.

Where It Started

When we founded Meridian in 2015, we wrote our own Declaration of Independence. It wasn’t just clever language for the launch of a new firm. It explained why we believed Meridian needed to exist in the first place.

We believed financial advice should be built around three cornerstone principles: independent, fee-only, and fiduciary. Eleven years later, those principles remain the foundation of Meridian.

The Principles That Haven’t Changed

Independent matters because an advisor who works for a larger bank, brokerage, insurance company, or other parent organization may face pressures beyond simply serving the client. Those pressures can come from proprietary products, sales goals, corporate priorities, or shareholders. Independence gives us the freedom to evaluate the financial landscape broadly and recommend what we believe best serves each client.

Fee-only matters because how an advisor gets paid can influence the advice they give. No financial relationship is completely free of conflicts, but we work hard to keep them as limited as possible. Meridian does not accept commissions or payments from outside companies for recommending or selling financial products. Our clients pay us directly, which helps put us on the same side of the table.

Fiduciary matters because it means accepting an obligation to put a client’s best interests first. When someone is helping you make decisions about your life savings, retirement, family, and future, we think that obligation should be foundational. It should not be an optional business model choice.

Why It Still Matters

These principles mattered enough to us 11 years ago that we left the familiar behind to create something different. They matter just as much today. Perhaps that is what struck me most, looking around at our team. Meridian is much bigger than the handful of people who started it 11 years ago, but the promise we made at the beginning is still the promise this entire team works to keep today.

(An original graphic from our launch video in September 2015, and a screenshot from that same video. One aged better than the other.)

To this day, we remain deeply convinced that independence, transparency, and putting our clients’ interests first are central to how we serve.

Thank You

As we celebrate 11 years, mostly we just feel thankful. Thankful to this team for carrying those principles forward, and especially thankful to the families who have trusted us to serve them.

We treasure that trust, and we work hard every day to earn it.

If you have been part of this journey with us, thank you. And if you are considering whether Meridian might be the right fit for your own financial life, we would welcome the conversation.

Disclosure

Being independent, fee-only, and fiduciary does not mean that Meridian—or any financial advisory firm—is free from all potential conflicts of interest. We believe these principles help us reduce and better align certain conflicts, and we are committed to clearly disclosing those that remain. Other financial advisors and firms may also serve as fiduciaries; however, not all financial professionals are required to act as fiduciaries at all times. For more information about Meridian’s services, fees, and potential conflicts of interest, please review our Form ADV and related disclosures.